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Write Your Own Stories Wiki:Protection Policy
A fundamental philosophy of many wikis, including this one, is that they are a place that "anyone can edit". As such, most pages should not be protected from editing or moving. However, there may be instances where it is necessary. This page will outline the conditions for protecting a page. Protecting a page should not be done casually and should only be done to correct a problem. Temporarily protecting a page is preferred over using the default setting of an infinite protection time. The "Block new and unregistered users" setting should be used whenever possible, rather than the restrictive "Administrators only" setting. Reasons for protecting a page Pages can be protected when there are repeated instances of problem edits, vandalism, spam, etc. When a problem has to be fixed on a page three times it becomes a candidate for protection. In many cases, issuing a block may be more effective than protecting a page. See "Blocking versus protecting" below for more information. Some examples of why a page would have to be protected include, but are not limited to: * Repeated poor edits: A user, under one or more accounts/IP addresses, repeatedly adds information or creates a page repeatedly that they have been asked not to. Most never respond to the requests to stop, which makes it clear that they are being selfish or stubborn about adding unwanted information. In these cases, they are also subject to being blocked. * Targeted spamming/vandalism: The same page(s) being spammed or vandalized by multiple users, or even the same user over a period of time. * Spam/advertisement pages: Typically created by anonymous users. Unless the same page title is being created multiple times, blocking the user will usually remove the need to protect the page they are creating. * High traffic pages: When a large number of edits are made to a page, users may not be able to make their edits before someone else makes a change. Many times this happens after a new episode or song is broadcast, and therefore should not be protected. * Edit wars: When two or more users are fighting over information that should or should not be included, one user will typically undo the edits of the other. Many times, the edit summary will contain personal remarks rather than factual reasons why an edit was made or undone. An administrator may temporarily protect a page to enforce a "cool down" period so that the matter may be resolved. ** An administrator that is involved in the edit war may protect the page, but they may only do so while a different administrator is contacted to help resolve the disupte they are involved in. They must not protect the page to stop the other person(s) from making edits they disagree with and they must not make any edits while the page is protected. See also "Reasons why a page should not be protected" below. * Pages moved repeatedly: If a page is moved to new names several times, the page can be moved protected if this is happening too frequently or the new names do not conform to the wiki's page name policy. Each time a page is moved, a redirect is left behind unless the administrator making the move suppresses the redirect, so move protecting a page will reduce the number of redirects that have to be cleaned up. ** Moving pages can be another form of an edit war and those guidelines would also apply. * Upcoming episodes: Occasionally, we get information from reliable sources about an episode that will premiere at some time in the future. The information may be minimal at best, such as an episode title or a guest star that will be in the episode. The temptation for new and anonymous users is to then invent details for the episode that cannot be proven by other reliable sources. Undoing these "creative details" is usually sufficient, but when it progresses into the "repeated poor edits" area, then the page may be protected. * Policies and help pages: These usually should not be protected, since doing so can be seen as a way of shutting out the community. If it becomes necessary to protect one of these pages, an alternative method of suggesting changes must be provided. Typically, this is its Talk/Discussion page. * System templates: Templates that are used for system messages may be protected if they are being changed by users. Sometimes this is done in an attempt to stop the template from being used, such as the template being placed on a page they created and want to keep, but cannot provide a legitimate or compelling reason why it should be kept. * Site graphics/pictures: Pictures that are used as part of a wiki's layout or are used on pages like templates may be protected to prevent a different picture from being uploaded, which would change the meaning of the picture. Reasons that a page should not be protected Administrators must not protect a page due to edits that they disagree with. They must remain objective and only protect pages using the guidelines above or to comply with other policies on the wiki such as the Block policy. When personal feelings enter the picture, the admin must immediately separate themselves from the page(s) in question. Another administrator must be contacted for arbitration and conflict resolution. Examples of why a page should not be protected include, but are not limited to: * Enforcing personal or religious beliefs. * Preventing another person from making edits that the administrator is currently in an edit war with. * Preventing another user from making edits that the admin disagrees with. * Any other reason that would constitute an abuse of administrator privileges. Blocking versus protecting When a user is making poor edits that might require a page to be protected, leave one or two messages on their talk page asking them to stop. If they continue, placing a short block on them of 3 days or a week may be enough to get them to stop. However, if they persist in re-adding the bad edits and/or re-creating pages that have been deleted, then it may be necessary to protect the page. Use the "Block new and unregistered users" setting whenever possible. A majority of the users that cause problems are casual editors that will lose interest if a short-term block or protection is used. If they leave the wiki soon after their first edit (within 4 days after registration), then they may not progress beyond being a new user and the "Administrators only" level of protection would not be necessary. Users that continue to add bad edits and/or create pages that have to be deleted or protected quickly make it apparent that they are a vandal or a troll. Blocks should be applied according to the Block policy. How to protect a page or file Instructions for how an administrator can protect a page can be found . Protection policy